Evolution

by Dave Nesbit

  Chapter 9

  With some time on my hands, I walked around the campus for a while. I used the school's wireless system to download a streaming music app onto my tablet then slid my glasses on. Reaching into the back of them I found the two buds that meshed with the ear hooks perfectly and slid them in.

  I had a nice run of music going as I took in the whole place. Wondering what it was I was being more or less forced to get into. Thankfully, for a former army base, someone had taken their time in setting up the post to give it more than just a drab pre-fab sort of look.

  A lot of the newer buildings had a kind of angular neo-modern look to them. There was a fountain in the main square of the base. From the middle of it a large clock tower sprouted up into the sky. Taking the time to look it all over, I did my best to get used to my new home.

  Part of me wondered what kind of classes would be arranged to help us get used to our powers. Part of me was hoping I would get to fly again. Maybe tomorrow. That thought put a smile on my face that stayed there till I got back to the house.

  Where all hell had broken loose.

  Or at least that’s what it looked like. Lynn was on the floor sobbing, Jimmy was looking both dazed and pissed and Shawn was doing his best to hold Ramon back from decking Jimmy. As he did, Rachel was busy helping Lynn to find her feet.

  “Okay, what’s going on?” I yelled as I walked in and tried to sort the mess out mentally.

  I was roundly ignored as the group kept moving around each other; the tension in the room now a palpable thing. Ramon broke loose and lunged at Jimmy. I cut him off as Jimmy shifted location in the blink of an eye to the stairs. Damn, he wasn’t kidding about being fast.

  “Hey how was I supposed to know the bitch was touchy?” Jimmy said.

  “Hijo de tu...” Ramon tried to surge forward again.

  “Easy big guy.” I said as Shawn came between Ramon and Jimmy to balance the room out. “Would somebody be kind enough to tell me what the fuck is going on?”

  Ramon stopped struggling and I let him go. Jimmy began. “Look I was just trying to start a conversation.”

  “Lynn was kind of spacing out.” Shawn began. “Which I guess she does a lot.”

  “So I tried to talk to her.” Jimmy said.

  “He poked her in the ribs and she jumped.” Shawn commented.

  “Dude, it was like her eyes were on fire.” Jimmy continued.

  “Anyway captain sensitivity here said something stupid.” Ramon added, looking like he was getting some of his temper back.

  “I said she looked like a kind of crazy witch.” Jimmy added defensively, apparently not taking the time to notice what he had actually said to Lynn.

  Ramon was rolling his eyes. “Anyway Lynn kind of started of crying.”

  “So I asked her what her fucking problem was.”

  “And that only made it worse.” Shawn continued as Rachel stood up. Her body language reminded me of a tiger, moments before it pounced. I reached out with my senses and felt a field of energy around her that was growing stronger.

  “What ya gonna do girl?” Jimmy puffed up seeing Rachel. At that moment any thought I had of possibly helping him got flushed. He was the sort of person who should wear a warning tag that says ‘Perpetual asshole, please approach with caution.’

  His body language told me he was ready and really wanted a fight. Rachel kind of flowed toward him. Not like she was using a power, more like a practiced ease one gets from being used to confrontations.

  My own body language settled back as I saw Ramon, wisely, get out of Rachel's way.

  She just looked at him, and suddenly I saw the waning grin on his face turn to one of surprise. Then to one of shock as he was violently lifted off his feet.

  He spun backwards and as he turned I saw the cause. I wasn't sure the source of her power but I knew what it was doing. I was witnessing my first “Touched” powered wedgie.

  Ramon burst out laughing. Shawn turned his head as if to act like he wasn’t seeing this; as Rachel used her ability to have Jimmy’s own clothes pull him into a wall.

  “Let's get something straight.” Rachel said; poking a finger in his chest. “Be mean to her again and you will never be able to run fast enough to get away from what I'll do.”

  His face was turning red as he looked up at her with murder in his eyes. “Fuck you.”

  “Wrong answer.” Rachel replied. And suddenly he was yanked up hard into the ceiling. I looked to the right and saw Hamilton walking to the front door. “Better cool it, the heat is here.” I said quietly. Rachel followed my eyes and let him go.

  “We are nowhere close to done.” She hissed at him and walked off, taking Lynn with her.

  “I will get even with that bitch if it's the last thing I...” Jimmy muttered. Hamilton was walking in and frankly right now I didn’t want to give him a reason to hang out for too long.

  Jimmy on the other hand hadn’t noticed that, being too focused on his own issues. I kicked him lightly in the shin to shut him up, and he promptly punched me in the face. So fast that I felt it but didn't see it.

  Stars ran under my eyelids as I hit the ground. And as I jumped at him, Hamilton got in the way.

  “Whatcha gonna do?” He yelled blurring from one part of the room to another. “Come on bitch.”

  Right under my seething rage I realized this guy had serious issues. Above that though, I wanted to destroy him in much the same way I wanted to draw air.

  “Ease up!” Hamilton yelled. I stopped and Jimmy did as well.“What the hell is going on?”

  Suddenly Jimmy and I shut up, having no clue how to explain any of this. Ramon stepped in. “There's been a few personality issues.” He said. From behind him I saw Rachel come back into the room.

  “What kind of personality issues?”

  “He's an asshole.” Rachel responded pointing at Jimmy.

  “Fuck you, bi...”

  He was going to say something but Hamilton cut him off.

  “Is this going to be a serious issue?” He looked at us, sizing up the situation

  We all looked at each other, a subconscious group consensus formed in about a second. “Yeah it is.” I said.

  Hamilton shrugged. “James you can either stay and try and sort it out with your house-mates; or I have a place with an open room. Which would you prefer?”

  He shrugged. “Let me get my shit. I've already had enough of these losers.”

  Hamilton waited for him to grab his stuff as I sat down in the living room. A few moments later he was on his way out.

  I was hoping very much that I was seeing the last of him for a while. Of course, that turned out to be wrong.

  Chapter 10

  “Now then, are you ready?” Dr. Ng asked.

  I snorted. “I've only been waiting on this for weeks.”

  “Good, let's see what your parameters are.” Dr. Ng punched a few buttons on a computer console, bringing up a display. She was in an olive drab van borrowed from the army. It bristled with antenna and would receive signals from several radar stations nearby.

  Meanwhile, I felt a little odd. Well, a lot odd. I was standing there in a suit made out of skin tight leather and Nomex. I had my new government issue shades on and I could feel the ear buds pressing in. The glasses were held on by strap and, after adjusting it, I felt ready. Even if the outfit was a really horrible shade of orange.

  “All the better to find you with if you crash.” Hamilton said.

  “Dude if I crash I think finding me is going to be the least of my worries.” I said when I inquired him about the color.

  “True but your parents would appreciate any attempt we made to find the pieces.” He responded and clapped me on the shoulder.

  “You can begin anytime now. Remember follow the green path in your HUD.” Doctor Ng’s voice said in my ear.

  We were on the edge of Lake Michigan. Having driven to a spot designated by the FAA as a test area. There was an issue with flying straight out of the
school. Chicago has the most heavily populated airspace in the world and, frankly, I didn't show up on radar too well. Although I was told they were working on adding a transponder to my ensemble. Thankfully, my HUD was programmed to keep me out of air space that was being used by passenger or military air traffic.

  Turning, I oriented myself toward where the green line was, took a deep breath and extended my senses. Feeling the rich power of the earth around me, I set my mind to ride with those forces.

  My feet left the Earth and a moment later I was 20 feet above the ground. Then with a twitch in my thoughts I was propelled forward. Now moving parallel to the ground, I felt the tug ahead of me and a push behind me as I accelerated out over the water.

  “Not bad.” Hamilton's voice said in my ear. “You're already pushing 100.” I grinned at the thought as the water below me turned into a blur. I reached deeper; increasing the tug and pull waiting to see what effect it might have.

  “You're pushing 300 now.” Hamilton called out as I arced myself up, gaining altitude. “Are you feeling any heat buildup?”

  “Not that I notice.” The green line was curving north now. Arcing my body, I followed it; making a long lazy bank through the sky.

  “Good. As you increase speed let us know when you feel heat buildup.”

  This experiment had a pre-briefing where I had to sit down and talk with an engineer from Lockheed named Bennie. He proceeded to explain to me a few of the issues with the physics of flying. Like air friction for example. Fighter planes have to be designed to dissipate heat that builds up due to friction caused by their movement through the air.

  The notion that I might turn into a big flaming ball in midair explained why they had the Nomex suit on me. Of course that would protect me for a few seconds. Long enough for me to hopefully get close to the water and fall in.

  Or I'd be a flying BBQ, but so far that issue had yet to crop up.

  “Okay you've got a fifty mile straight ahead if you think you can open the taps more.” Hamilton said.

  I turned onto the green line and closed my eyes. I felt the pull and push grow stronger. I tried to gradually increase them.

  It was the oddest feeling. Moving at 300 plus miles an hour I should have been battered six ways to Sunday just by air resistance alone. And while I felt a strong wind on my face I didn't feel what I expected. Mind you about two feet ahead of me I could see a tidal wave of compressed air in front of my eyes. On a subconscious level I must have been shielding myself.

  “You're at 450. Any issues?” Dr. Ng inquired quietly.

  “There's a visual distortion ahead of me, but no heat buildup, and I'm maintaining control. “I responded.

  “Good, take the turn back toward us, it's a long run, feel free to go as fast as you feel comfortable with.”

  That was like giving a teenager the keys to a Ferrari and asking him to use his better judgement. I took a hard banking turn back toward the shore. Then, with a deep breath, I settled my mind and then reached down deep into myself.

  I could feel my speed increase dramatically and the visual distortion ahead of me got far more intense. It was now a foot wide and a spiraling mass of displaced compressed air. It was almost like driving with a badly broken windshield. “You just topped 600, are you okay?”

  That’s when buffeting started. Bennie had explained to me the issues with Transonic flight. When you're right at the point of breaking the sound barrier the turbulence created becomes a chaotic pool of highly dense air around the surface moving through it. Back in the day a lot of pilots lost control of aircraft and crashed as a result.

  I closed my eyes and began to shape the waves of power around me. Making a near solid form of air into something that felt like a wing shape and pushing myself even harder. Suddenly the flight smoothed out and I felt like I had regained control of my motion. The air around me felt dense, but it was gliding over and around me and not slamming my body in different directions

  “Holy.” Hamilton blurted out. Followed by. “Okay you're going to want to slow down as you approach.”

  I let my mind slow down the effects of the pushing and pulling as I got closer to the shore. Which was arriving much faster than I anticipated. All the while dropping altitude and trying to keep track of where my speed and height were in relation to the green track line I had been given.

  I arrived at my take off point moving at about five miles an hour and then let my feet touch the earth. It felt almost unnatural to just stand still, like I could feel the world moving under me. I took off my glasses and tried to let myself get used to the feeling of holding still.

  Hamilton, Ng and Bennie were all running from the truck. Hamilton made it to me first. “Are you alright?”

  “I think so; just dizzy and hungry as I’ve ever been.”

  “820.” Bennie said.

  “What?”

  “Your top speed. 820 miles an hour. Congratulations you're the first person to break the sound barrier without bothering to take a plane with him.” Bennie was laughing.

  “Well holy shit.” I said and sat down on the nice grassy spot we had chosen to begin this experiment.

  “Are you sure you're okay?” Dr. Ng said.

  “Like I was saying, dizzy and hungry, aside from that I'm all right.”

  “Let me run your vitals and we'll get lunch.” She answered.

  I nodded and let myself be guided to the van where I had my pulse, blood pressure and temperature taken. All of which were almost frighteningly normal. Then Doctor Ng poked me with a lancet and checked my blood sugar.

  “We should probably get him something to eat now.” She was looking at the device. “I think we found the cause of your dizziness.”

  We took a drive to a local eatery and I proceeded to destroy two double cheeseburgers, an order of green beans, most of Hamilton's fries and a forest of bread sticks.

  “This is going to take a lot of studying.” Ng had a smile on her face that reminded me of one of my little nieces when she got a new toy.

  People in the place were staring at us. Okay I admit it’s not every day that a guy wearing a Nomex flight suit walks in for lunch. But as we ate I could feel the weight of eyes on me as we talked about the test and further exercises.

  It was both uncomfortable and kind of energizing at the same time. I’d never been anything special before.

  Chapter 11

  Let's be honest. After you've broken the flying with no airplane speed record (even if you're the first to get timed doing it) the rest of the day tends to be anti-climactic. Usually.

  I came back from the test run and walked into the house. Ramon was sitting in the living room relaxing in his test suit. I had changed out of mine and back into shorts and a t-shirt. Lynn was sitting at a chair opposite him and they were talking in low whispers.

  “What’s up?”

  “You're not gonna believe it.” Ramon said.

  “I just went supersonic without a plane, try me.”

  Ramon eyes went wide at that. “Okay, someone pissed on Lynn's pillow while we were out at class.”

  That one surprised me for a second, then I realized I was in a school full of people who created flames from nowhere, manipulated magnetic fields and ran faster than you could see. The possibilities for mayhem were limitless.

  Wait, run faster than you could... I ran that thought back in my mental media player. “I think we have a lead suspect.”

  “You thought of him too?” Ramon replied. “Shawn's setting up a sensor system to catch the culprit.”

  “The question is once we have an image how do we catch him physically?” Rachel said with a distinct growl in her voice.

  I thought about it, for a moment then remembered something. The visual of the distorted air around me as I increased speed today. It wouldn't have to be that dense.

  “Rachel, you said you could manipulate matter?”

  “You saw me do it with Dip-shit’s underwear.”

  “How about we act more subtle?”


  “Like what?” Ramon asked.

  I took a moment to explain my plan. Ramon smiled approvingly. Rachel grinned. “Oh that's evil.”

  “But not as evil as say, peeing on someone’s pillow.”

  “True.” Lynn said with a smile, her head was cradled in her hands as she lay down on the floor.

  Walking over to the kitchen I grabbed a glass of ice water. Then walked outside to get a breath of air and a moment to think.

  I was followed out by Rachel. “Thanks for that.” She said.

  “For what?”

  “The plan, acting like you give a shit.” She responded with a shrug.

  “I do like to behave like I give shit.” I said back. “If I was all apathy all the time I'd never get anything done.” That got a smile.

  “She’s the kind of person who’s invisible to most folks. I kind of want her to know we might give a damn about her.”

  “Well I share a roof with her, so caring about her or you or anyone else here makes good sense to me. We're gonna be here for a while, having a few friends makes life easier.”

  “Good.”

  She walked back in, and I watched her go. The view was pleasant, but as I looked at her, I reviewed her words and her quiet intensity as she said them. Call me strange, but I'm always interested in what motivates people.

  Rachel seemed to have a built-in social armor around her. I felt like she held high standards and felt consistent disappointments because of this. That armor was something that she was slowly letting down to me and maybe the others; when they acted in accordance with her notion of what she thought of as correct behavior.

  ‘Den mother to the weirdos.’ I thought and finished my water. Walking back in, I saw Shawn setting a couple of black discs on the wall by the door, then setting more along the halls.

  “Do I even want to know?”

  “CMOS sensors hooked up to a microchip and antenna. They capture images in super slow-mo every time the doors or windows open.”

  “Nice.” I said.

  “I better not find one in my room.” Rachel gave Shawn a look that threatened murder.